Posted in 1A, 1B, General Studies

Innovation Day!

Innovation Day in 1A

Our Innovation Day projects have been inspired by the book Make Way for Animals! A World of Wildlife Crossings by Meeg Pincus.

The students’ challenge was to design and build a structure to help animals cross busy roads. All projects needed to be strong enough to hold 100 g, and at least 30 cm long.

The class got busy planning, designing, cutting cardboard, and gluing. Many designs changed during the building process, but ultimately they all worked. Students practiced their patience and perseverance and were proud of their accomplishments.

 

 

Innovation Day was exciting. Showing the projects to the parents and other classes was lots of fun. Now the students want to keep building and planning with more STEM challenges. As a teacher I have to admit these challenges are so much fun.

Innovation Day in 1B

This year for Innovation Day, the grade 1s were inspired by the story “Make Way for Animals” by Meeg Pincus. Students were so excited and interested in learning about different bridges, underpasses, and creations that help animals to safely cross the road so we thought why not create our own inventions!

 

The challenge: design and build a structure to help animals safely cross the road. Students were challenged with having their inventions stand by themselves and hold 100g. Students got busy planning, designing, cutting cardboard, and gluing. Many of their designs changed throughout the process, but in the end they all created amazing structures!

 

Innovation day came quickly and the students were so excited to show off their projects to teachers, parents, and other OJCS students. We even got to tour the school and learn about the different projects other students did as well. It was so fun to explore the projects around the school!

Posted in 1A, General Studies, Jewish Studies, Ruach

The latest from 1A

The latest from 1A

This past week we celebrated the 100th day of school. In General Studies, we read 100 words, worked on 100 math problems, and wrote the 100th-day news. We counted to 100 en français and wrote 100 words in Hebrew. The highlight was making Fruit Loop necklaces with 100 Fruit Loops. The students had fun snacking as they counted and made their necklaces.

100 Hebrew words

 

In Social Studies, the students worked on personal timelines. Seeing all the beautiful pictures of children of different ages made everyone smile.

 

Friday was our kickoff for the love of reading. We made reading forts in class. Reading in forts was a big hit. It was our surprise for our homework bingos. One of the students said, “It is a dream come true!” He had wished only a month ago that we could make forts in school.

 

A few children also enjoyed some quiet reading after story time in the library today.

 

Hebrew with Moreh Saar

Hey there Grade 1,

It’s almost Pesach and I figured a bit of showing off our conversational skills is in order.

As a part of my methodology I find it extremely important to anchor the learning in real life, as language is a “use it or lose it” skill. That’s why I decided to connect Hebrew studies with Israeli culture. As you might know, the students surely realized it by now, Israelis are loving, passionate and welcoming, however they are also loud and full of Chutzpah!!

Taking this into consideration I decided to teach the kids several different ways to ask and answer people “how are you doing?”, some are formal, some are good old fashion cheeky!! Please feel free to listen to them answer about their day and ask me how I’m doing. It was a calculated risk, but boy am I bad at math, the kids can definitely talk, but now I got a classroom full of cheeky Israeli sounding kids.

Have a great Pesach vacation,

Saar

Posted in 1A, French, General Studies

La Francophonie

      

La beauté de la langue française!!!

Alors les amis, why celebrate la Francophonie? I can think of thousands of reasons why but it comes down to one thing: we love the french language because it is smooth, rich, and flowing: we love speaking french because, with its nasal vowels and melodious intonation, it sounds very musical to a non-native ear. We want to learn French because it is also called the language of love, cooking, fashion, theater, visual arts, dance, and architecture.

During la francofête at our school, we had the pleasure to admire all the students from JK-grade 8 sing, dance, act, and recite poems in french!!!! All the teachers worked hard to make that happen. The students were proud of themselves, and their energy and passion were evident throughout the afternoon. During the week of the francophonie, they read books, heard stories, watched movies, played games, learned the ten magic words, and tasted french treats. Alors mes amis as the legendary teacher Dorothy Grace Boyajian once said, “Let us keep the flame of knowledge alive so we can light the candle of our children.”

A très bientôt!  

 

     

The latest from 1A

A Virtual Author Visit

JK to Gr. 2 students got a virtual visit from Lark the Shark author Natalie Newman from her home in the U.K. The story and presentation helped our students learn about sharks and their role in the ocean ecosystem. Natalie shared how she wrote the book with her son and her son after learning about pollution in the ocean in his Grade 2 classroom. The students were curious about the publishing process, and Natalie talked about how they wrote the book. I think some students will be writing their books one day.

 

 

                                      Math Olympics

 

In honour of Pi Day on March 14th, students celebrated a love of Math by participating in the first-ever 1A Math Olympics. The children picked their teams a chose a name. The Marvelous Mathers, Math Detectors, and the Air Force A Math AA teams problem-solved, collaborated, and had fun with Math.
Congratulations to the Marvelous Mathers for winning the 1A Olympics!

 

Take a look at our opening ceremony

 

 

La semaine de la Francophonie

La semaine de la francophonie was lots of fun. The students loved all the French activities on Wednesday afternoon. The first stop was visiting the Makerspace cafe for croissants and hot chocolate. Obstacle courses, word searches, and bingo helped the children review all the French they are learning this year.

1A enjoyed a workshop with Quinn, our school social worker. Quinn taught about empathetic and active listening. The children practiced using listening skills by playing a few games. The students will continue to work on these skills throughout the rest of the year.

Posted in French, General Studies, Jewish Studies

Purim,la joie du carnaval

A different week Rush Week full of happy faces, fun, smiles, and dazzling colours has finished. Purim allowed me, along with my kiddos discover what this celebration means and symbolizes. Through fun activities, we watched, heard, and told the story of Purim in French. We discussed the good and bad main characters of the story. We learned new vocabulary and hid by dressing up in costumes, appearing as something else, while our true selves remained hidden underneath the masquerade. It was an incredible experience for ME and a fun time for THEM!

 

Both classes got together on Purim to have Ruach filled day. We made graggers. We loved listening to the Megillah Reading Rabbi Kenter. We had a fabulous fashion show. It was amazing how everyone got the same overall score from our judges. Moreh Saar, Ms. Karissa, and Mrs. Bennett claim all participants gave their best performance, so they had to give everyone the best possible score.

 

 

Posted in Uncategorised

Here it is!!!

Amazing news everyone, thanks to the generosity and kindness of the Customs and Immigrations Union, our first graders received the opportunity to see their words come to life.

The letters we sent struck the president’s heart strings and he couldn’t resist but to come to class and grant us the old flag, promising the flag will be replaced this Wednesday afternoon.

We were more than excited to make him some extra thank you notes and can’t wait to see our flag returned in two days!!!

 

Posted in 1A, 1B, General Studies, Grade 1 Reading, Uncategorised

Fun in Grade One

 

In Science, we are learning all about different types of energy. An energy hunt had the children looking for electrical energy sources all around the school. The middle school hallway was the place the class most wanted to visit. The children loved walking amongst the older students. Everyone was surprised that the library had the most plugs, switches, and outlets.

 

 

The students worked with an energy buddy to do some simple research in their Science notebooks.

Morah Lianna came to teach the puck in the rink rule. The children learned when to use <ck> and <k> when writing in their journals.

 

 

During a recent visit to the library, Ms. Brigitte had the class laughing as she read us a funny story about excuses for not doing homework. The children had a chance to come up with excuses. I will remember these excuses. Who knows if any students will use them in the future?😀

 

Quinn, our social worker, did a terrific #JDAIM workshop in grade 1. Quinn, talked to us about Diversity and Inclusion. We played a fun game that highlighted our differences and interests. We discovered that it is our differences that make us unique and special.

We are Yeti…..to be a good friend

We read the story Peg and the Yetti and learned how they became friends. The children then made yetis and wrote about being a good friends.

 

     

 

 

                                                Winter Fun Day

 

Winter Fun Day was so much fun! The children loved skating and tobogganing in the morning. 1A and 1B went to the Makerspace together to make catapults. They enjoyed launching snowballs (cotton balls) all over. Ms. Karissa and I told the children it was the only day they could throw/launch snowballs at school. Teachers might have enjoyed this activity as much as the children.

 

 

Happy March!!

We have decided to make March a month all about reading! To kick it off we are introducing “March Munsch Madness” in grade 1. We have 16 Robert Munsch books that are all in the running and as a group we are going to decide what we think is our favourite Robert Munsch book. Check out our Munsch Madness bracket to see what story ends up winning!

Homework this month will look a little different. Instead of a homework BINGO board, there will be a reading challenge BINGO board. Students are still working to get 4 in a row for a BINGO but this time all of the activities involve reading!

Finally, next week is RUACH WEEK! Here is the schedule of events happening next week.

 

Posted in French

Les plaisirs’hiver

Salut les parents,

It’s time for a well-deserved break for all of us! The kids have been working beautifully, enriching their vocabulary, improving their writing, and practicing speaking French. After the winter clothes, they learned geometrical shapes by playing games and activities like building structures. They were quite amazed to discover that most  words derived from the Greek language, like pentagone,hexagone, etc. We also worked on the winter vocabulary, and we learned everything that is associated with the snow. They played charades, memory games, and puzzles to help them remember the words. Going outdoors during recess gave them the opportunity to practice the vocabulary. The children studied prepositions, and drew pictures of their room. The students presented their room pictures to the class while describing the location of some objects with the prepositions sur,dans,sous,devant, etc. In writing the children produced their first complete sentences using est( is). They were very proud of themselves. We are continuing with our complex sounds like CH and OI, and the best way to practice is by doing ‘Je lis’ regularly. I insist on them listening to the story many times before recording so they pronounce the words correctly. I am happy to see that they have become more comfortable with common words like Voici, C’est, Mon, Regarde, etc. During the break, try to expose them to the French language as much as possible, outings to museums, french cartoons like Caillou(there are over 400 episodes on the YouTube channel), french songs, and free online Apps like Duolingo, Hello-World French Children’s Activities can all make this journey for the kids educational and fun.

Have an exciting and wonderful break!


Posted in General Studies

February Homework Board

Happy February! Last month 1B had a goal of 35 bingos (which meant 140 homework activities) as a class and they ended with a grand total of 55 bingos (220 homework activities!)!! We counted the first 35 and then saved the extra 20 to go towards our February goal. Stay tuned to hear about the fun activity the students earned from January!

Our new goal for February is 50 BINGOs. The students are SO excited to get a start on the homework and I can’t wait to find out how many BINGOs are earned! I have attached the new February homework BINGO here but everything has been sent home in their note totes. Students are able to bring the papers back at the end of the month. The homework boards are due back on March 3rd 2023.

 

Posted in 1A, 1B, Jewish Studies, Jewish Studies Reading, Ruach

Where did my flag go?!

Hello everyone, it’s another interesting week here in the first grade.

As a part of our morning routine, we take notes about the weather, debating whether it’s rainy, sunny, cloudy, etc. outside… One of the different weather conditions we talk about is windy (רוח). Unfortunately, 2 weeks ago, a big storm tore away the flag from one of the businesses situated across the 417, leaving us completely lost when it comes to determining the level of wind outside.

That is why the first grade decided to spring into action and use their hard earned vocabulary into use. We sat down and wrote a stern, yet firm, letter to the Customs and Immigration Union (look it up, this is the real deal), asking them to bring their flag back. We also took the liberty of drawing some nice depictions of how the loss of the flag makes us feel, and these are some of the results:

 

Now we just have to hope that if they don’t bring the flag back for their own national pride, at the least they’ll do it for the children!

I hope that there will be updates to follow,

Saar.

Posted in 1A, French, General Studies

French and General Studies Update

Salut Grade 1 Parents!

The last two weeks we have been talking about winter clothes and we have been doing different fun activities so that the children can remember the new vocabulary. It goes without saying that we regularly review previous words such as the colours, the numbers, the days etc.  Next  week we are learning the geometrical shapes. As far as reading is concerned, I follow their reading daily insisting on the correct pronunciation and the meaning of the words. In addition, I read with each one of them almost every day in order to boost their confidence. Since they are familiar with the books in Je lis, I started giving them simple  comprehension activities related to the stories so they get the chance to see, write and read the words again. Regarding the sounds, we have started exploring the complex ones like U, and OU and we will continue doing so because once they can recognise them, their reading will improve considerably. I strongly encourage you to go over the sheets they bring home when you have some free time, or even when you are out, and you see a sign in french ask them to identify any sound they know.  The great thing about Canada is that everything is written in both languages so even a simple walk to the supermarket can be a learning experience. Don’t forget that repetition is the mother of learning.

 

  

General Studies in 1A

Treasure Hunt

Excitement filled the halls on Tuesday as the class participated in a well-earned treasure hunt. Each clue had the children reading and walking around the school. The children loved discovering and walking through the maze. The treasure was found and divvied up amongst the class. I think I loved it as much as the children.

 

Groundhog Day

The students made their Spring predictions for Groundhog Day on Thursday. We then watched how Wiarton Willie and Punxsutawney Phil predicted an early Spring and a late Spring, respectively. The class predictions showed most of the class thinking it will be a late Spring.

 

 

Math

The children have been busy working on addition and subtraction facts this week.  On Thursday, we practised math facts by playing fun math games. Quinn, our school social worker, even joined in on the fun.

 

Team Building Activity

How does a class finish off the week on a bitterly cold day with no outdoor recess? You get together with 1B to do a team-building activity. Ms. Karissa challenged the children to pass a hula hoop around the circle while holding hands with each other. The students did it as one big group and then made two smaller circles to move the hula hoop. Two Grade six students came to help the classes with this activity. It was so much fun!